North County week in review

Former Encinitas Fire Chief Mark Muir was sworn into his seat on the City Council on Wednesday over the din of dissent from about half of the capacity crowd that gathered for the meeting. Muir filled the seat of late Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan, who died of cancer Sept. 16. He will hold the seat until December 2012. Houlihan supporters gathered at the meeting to protest Muir’s appointment, a move they considered to be cronyism.

Before her death, Houlihan had run against Councilmen James Bond and Jerome Stocks. Muir openly supported their campaigns during those elections. Stocks, Bond and Kristin Gaspar rebutted the criticism, saying Muir was the most qualified applicant.

Fair board members voted Tuesday to wait to re-evaluate the fair’s elephant ride feature until 2014 despite urging from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that they sever ties with the company that operates the ride.

Have Trunk Will Travel, which has overseen the ride at the fair for 27 years, came under fire by PETA and Animal Defenders International after a video by ADI showed the elephants’ owners striking the animals with bullhooks in 2005. The owners said lay people don’t understand the elephant training.

Carlsbad Unified school board members approved Wednesday the first set of budget cuts for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The cuts include a $200,000 reduction in startup costs for the new Sage Creek High School, a $15,000 reduction in employee pay and the elimination of $450,000 worth of administrative jobs. The district is facing a projected $10.6 million hole in its $82 million budget for next year.

A sheriff’s deputy shot at a San Marcos man on Thursday on a hillside near Mission Hills High School after he saw the man holding a rifle.

Felipe Holguin, 21, was using a BB or pellet gun to shoot at gophers on his front lawn. The deputy’s bullet missed Holguin and went through a second-story window of an unoccupied home nearby. Holguin reportedly swung the gun in the direction of the deputy. He was arrested on suspicion of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury.

Escondido backs off on E-Verify requirements

Escondido City Council members on Wednesday modified an ordinance they passed in March that required city contractors to use the federal E-Verify system to determine the immigration status of their employees.

The change came about a month after Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Employment Acceleration Act, which prohibits cities from rejecting contracts submitted by companies because they do not use electronic immigration screening processes. The city will keep using E-Verify for in-house hiring.

Sheriff’s deputies were investigating a shooting that severely wounded a Poway High School junior Nov. 4. The boy, a member of the varsity lacrosse team, was at the home of a teammate when he was shot in the head.

Deputies have not released many details on the case, which reportedly involved marijuana laced with a hallucinogenic drug. Deputies were summoned after a resident called firefighters around 6:15 p.m. to report that the boys were using drugs and possibly hallucinating.

The Oceanside Planning Commission on Monday sided with more than 320 residents who opposed the opening of a 7-Eleven and gas station in the city’s downtown. Commissioners said the area is already full of similar businesses and addition of another did not align with the city’s goals for downtown Oceanside. According to reports, the city received only two calls in support of the project.